All of you, please PM me a reason (separately) why you're coming to Red Larch.  If you're in a faction of some sort, the reason would be an agent from your faction notified you about a delegation that went missing somewhere around Red Larch (this would be preferred).  This delegation was made up of representatives from several factions, although even factions not represented are interested in it.  This delegation was traveling from Waterdeep to Mirabar.  If not, you could have heard about the delegation from somewhere else, pursuing part of your character's hook if you have one, or just simply looking for work.  I would prefer this not be sent in the group chat, as not everyone would know all of everyone else's motivations.  Once this is done I'll have you introduce your characters (we can say you met on the road in, and seemed to share some common goals) and give everyone an introduction to Red Larch.  The first part of this campaign is a lot of side quests and getting to know the area better, you only have the most cursory information about the actual cults themselves.  Even those with hooks relating to the cults would only know that they exist, not anything about their organization or leadership.

(Just posting this ahead of time before PCs are chosen)

(Please also include what faction you're in, I'll give you agents you can talk to for more information.)

Jairus arrived in Red Larch following the instructions of his Faction, the Zhentarim, as well as pursuing answers to his mother’s disappearance. He makes it obvious that he is aligned with a faction that has lost delegates in this area, wearing his Zhentarim insignia openly on the upper right of his studded leather armor. 

He is a young human male, late teens, standing 5’9, slim of build, without a great deal of visible muscle tone. He has blue eyes and greasy looking black hair, which he wears parted in the middle, a very rustic fashion more common in small hamlets and out of style in the big city. He looks as if he is trying to grow a beard, but at present it just looks like pepper strewn about his cheeks and chin. He is not a handsome man, with sunken in, sleepy looking eyes, and an overly sharp, narrow and long-looking chin and nose. 

He carries a hand crossbow at his belt, tied there with a coil of rope as if to avoid it being lost or stolen, and four cases of crossbow bolts visibly readied onto his person within quick reach, tied on with straps of leather. 

He shuffles around in an insecure fashion, a bit wide eyed and jumpy, as he looks for contacts from his faction or others sent to investigate their missing delegates. 

(Just a small note, the Zhentarim didn't actually lose delegates.  They're just interested in the situation since so many competitors did.)

(I'll update you on what you can find once everybody posts.)

OOC: Thanks for the heads up - if there were any additional details to his faction mission let me know. 

Longen Thundertongue lounges near a farmer's stall, smiling as he listens to the man's rambling anecdotes. He arrived in Red Larch a few days ago, driven to the city by the strange storms and unusually heavy rains. His normal livelihood of helping villages and farms with irrigation not currently relevant, Longen is forced to resort to his secondary profession, that of blade for hire. Sensing unrest and tension among the people he observes and talks with, Longen knows that in this kind of environment violence is a guarantee, and he's ready to participate, for the right price. 

Rapier, longbow, alms box and holy amulet are the tools of this pirate stormcaller turned wandering priest. Striking an imposing if weathered figure, this lean bronze dragonborn stands at six feet and five inches, most of it bone, sinew and scale. Worn down by a childhood of harsh ocean spray, Longen's scales and spines are tarnished and pitted like old bronze armor, the only thing vibrant about him his bright green eyes. With an broad toothy grin and a practiced slouch, Longen looks like a man comfortable in his own scales. 

Lasair Ar Mire is a curious sight in the city of Red Larch. She sticks out like a green thumb, pun intended. Taking in all the sights, sounds, and smells of the bustling city she's made friends with an innkeeper's daughter and the owner of the bathhouse nearby. She's hoping to gain insight her clan needs to heal the lands outside the city but so far has gained no information. She's a tall, willowy, young human woman. She has a wild mane of bright red hair, piercing blue eyes, freckled fair skin, and a regal baring. She wears worn leather armor and holds a staff of gnarled wood that looks almost like a young sapling covered in drudic runes.

Jairus doesn’t speak to the locals to learn of the situation. He was used to avoiding conversation for most of his life, and the idea of asking others for information doesn’t come to mind. Instead the youth engages in personal observations and investigations. Occasionally he does so via Stealth, and the locals find an odd, silent, black haired youth staring at them, unblinking, from some place of concealment. 

He observes the farmer speaking with Longden, and steps out from the corner of the building he was crouched behind, fairly certain the Dragonborn saw him, and also extremely curious. The boy openly stares at the Dragonborn, his sleepy looking blue eyes unashamedly taking in the tall scaled figure.

”I ain’t never seen nothing like you before.” He speaks flatly, his voice nasally and unpleasant. His words seem sincere enough, but there is no politeness in his approach. He seems to have no awareness of social norms and cues whatsoever. 

Tyrael has a very travelworn appearance. His heavy black cloak and boots are dusty, and with the edge of the cloak beginning to unravel. Despite this, he never removes it and only rarely pulls back the hood - never among strangers. 

When he does, his appearance is disquieting - his pale face gaunt, his black hair long and unkempt and his eyes white and without pupil. Small town villagers might consider him an unwell human, possibly afflicted with a curse or magical malady. Those with travel experience or religious knowledge would identify him as a fallen aasimar.

He has evidently been on the road for a very long time, never staying in one place long, but he doesn’t talk about his mission or goal. He wears chain armor that has seen battle and carries a sword he seems loath to touch. 

Despite this, he speaks calmly, quietly and with great compassion. He seems drawn to those in need and acts as if compelled to intervene. In Red Larch, he mentions that they are known for a particular baked specialty and indicates he is seeking out a baker to try it. 

As he passes by the inn, making observations and skulking about, Jairus takes note of the red haired woman, Lasair. He shyly avoids eye contact and makes himself scarce from there. 

When he views the white-eyed man, Tyrael, asking about local baked goods, he takes him for a blind man. He observes him for a while, not bothering with stealth, unless he notices the man behaving with none of the indications of one who is blind. 

OOC: These are generalized descriptions of Jairus’ behavior in the area prior to making the acquaintance of the rest of the party. If the DM wishes to abstract that the party has met already these interactions can serve as a  description of pre-story interactions and we can skip forward as needed. 

A human girl scanned the streets of Red Larch from behind a market stall, one that had nice looking metal decorations, but the other parts like the wood was crooked. She had a glum look all over her face and a cloak wrapped around her adding to a just gloomy aura around her. But at the sight of seeing people pass by, her pale blue eyes flickers with life and suddenly out of her cloak there's a pineapple in one hand, and a curved, ornately designed machete in the other.

"Get your pineapples! Come get your juicy pineapples!" Placing the pineapple with a violent thud on the table, the blue-eyed girl attempts to make a show of skilfully preparing the pineapple in front of potential customers.

(I'll roll a performance check when we get started)

(I was going to just say you've met each other already.)

(So, Red Larch.  Fairly important stopping point for travelers, relatively small and safe, but still on the outskirts of the wild.)

As the group of you walk through the one main street, several buildings stand out to you.  You see two inns (one named the Helm at Highsun, it seems to attract a rougher crowd; the other is named the Swinging Sword and seems a bit calmer).  There's also a shrine, a dilapidated looking boarding house, a wagon shop, a tannery that appears to specialize in saddles, a clothier, a bakery, a smithy, a poultry shop, a butcher, a quarry, a smaller smithy that seems to be geared more towards weapons and armor, another smaller poultry shop, a bathhouse, another wagon shop (for some reason), a seedy looking barber shop, another quarry, another tannery, 4 warehouses with a sign saying "Bethendur's Storage," a market square empty except for one grungy stall operated by a half-orc,  and a general store.

(You would already know each other (just to get that out of the way), but this is your first time in Red Larch.  Feel free to go wherever, search for lodging, information etc.)

Longen spots the Helm at Highsun, and the call of a tall ale (and possibly some information, but mostly the ale) draws his attention. 

"My companions, I do believe a celebratory drink is in order! I don't know about yourselves, but Longen Thundertongue feels more alive with a pint or two in his stomach. And, if it's a bit early for drink, some of the patronage may be able to provide us with some information!" 

With that Longen begins to stride purposefully towards the Helm at Highsun.

(read as Post #11.5)

After spending much time walking toward the sprawling city (she knows it's a city, she's read about cities, so many people) of Red Larch and then turning, walking away, and repeating this for hours, the ivory furred Tabaxi heard a voice inside the city call out. 

"Get your pineapples! Come get your juicy pineapples!" 

This is all it takes to convince the Tabaxi to enter the crowded collection of buildings. She begins to run as the scent of pineapple grows stronger, completely overriding her trepidation. She does pause momentarily as she passes a human with bronze scales and the head of a dragon. Until now all the humans she had seen were fairly similar. But pineapple! She continued on passing a blue eyed greasy black haired human talking to another human with pupilless white eyes. She saw a human woman with the most amazing head of firey hair! This truly was a diverse city, and so huge. All the buildings. So many more buildings than the estate. Finally she found the young woman with the pineapple. She ran up and waited expectantly for the girl to cut the sweet fruit of her homeland. 

After meeting her new friends over chunks of pineapple and deciding they each had goals in common, Flower-of-Ivory followed them to the Helm at Highsun Inn. She had partaken of ale recently and decided it was indeed time for more.

(Everyone agreed with heading to the Helm?)

((Tyrael will follow along to the Helm))

((Accidental double post))

The Helm at Highsun is a ramshackle, two-story tavern, with rusty metal grills covering its windows.  Atop the sign stating its name is what appears to be a rusty bucket helmet with two eyeslits, although it looks like it could have previously been a washtub.  Inside, you find a large, dimly lit, wooden paneled taproom.  It's currently fairly busy, a number of locals and travelers huddled around tables in various stages of drunkenness.  A balding man holding a washcloth bustles over to your group.

"Been a while since I've gotten such a fine group here, what can I do for yeh?"

“I’ll pay for an ale if you’ll refill my water skin, good sir,” Tyrael says as he looks for a table near the door that can accommodate the group. He slides the empty leather and some coins across the table and takes a seat. “I expect we’ll need rooms for at least a night or two. Do you have any here, or can you recommend another location?”